site.btaBulgaria Opens First Sheltered-Employment Vegetable Garden
NW 16:49:32 14-09-2020
LG1700NW.114
114 LIFESTYLE - SPECIAL NEEDS - GARDENING
Bulgaria Opens
First Sheltered-Employment
Vegetable Garden
Sofia, September 14 (Rossitsa Ilieva of BTA) - Bulgaria's first vegetable garden, where all produce is grown organically and all gardeners are young people with special needs, was inaugurated on the site of a disused military training facility in Bozhourishte (13 km west of Sofia) last Thursday.
The ground-breaking centre for sheltered employment in this country was set up by For Kids - 2017, an association providing services to children with special needs (forkids2017.org), with the help of volunteers. The vegetable garden project is part of the State Agency for Disabled People's national action plan for sustained employment of disadvantaged people.
Unofficially, work in the garden started back in early June, when the first vegetables were planted, Mileva Boeva, the driving force behind the project, told BTA. Milena has a 14-year-old son with special needs and is a founder of For Kids - 2017. She said everybody is entitled to work and make a living "because parents won't be around forever".
Now the barbed-wire gates of the former military training facility in Bozhourishte are wide open for everybody after the local authority allowed For Kids - 2017 and volunteers to reclaim the abandoned land tract for plant growing.
There are 15 gardeners, but at least ten others - parents and volunteers - are there at any time to help them. The gardeners are aged between 24 and 35, and for most of them this is the first job they have landed despite - or on account of - their special needs. They clearly enjoy what they do: they welcome everybody with a broad smile and proudly show off their plants. They make sure to mention that no pesticides are used and say their favourite part is watering the plants and partying.
One of them, Viktoria, in her 20s, says they are grateful for the site and a chance to work, and are happy to be able to socialize more and be in touch with nature.
Next to the vegetable beds and the greenhouses is a trailer from which the garden sells fresh produce, dried herbs, chutney and jams made right there by the same people.
Occupational therapist Borislava Vaskova says the special-needs youths do so much more than gardening. They have built a tree house and are now helping put up a ramp for wheelchairs. They have also set up an art workshop and an open-air bar.
In the long term, the people involved in the project aim to enlist more people for their cause. They plan to renovate a building located on the property and turn it into a therapy centre. Before that happens, they are happy to welcome visitors and buyers of their produce. Also, they will appreciate donations of gardening tools.
The sheltered-employment garden is open from 9 a.m. on workdays. RI/LN
//
LG1700NW.114
114 LIFESTYLE - SPECIAL NEEDS - GARDENING
Bulgaria Opens
First Sheltered-Employment
Vegetable Garden
Sofia, September 14 (Rossitsa Ilieva of BTA) - Bulgaria's first vegetable garden, where all produce is grown organically and all gardeners are young people with special needs, was inaugurated on the site of a disused military training facility in Bozhourishte (13 km west of Sofia) last Thursday.
The ground-breaking centre for sheltered employment in this country was set up by For Kids - 2017, an association providing services to children with special needs (forkids2017.org), with the help of volunteers. The vegetable garden project is part of the State Agency for Disabled People's national action plan for sustained employment of disadvantaged people.
Unofficially, work in the garden started back in early June, when the first vegetables were planted, Mileva Boeva, the driving force behind the project, told BTA. Milena has a 14-year-old son with special needs and is a founder of For Kids - 2017. She said everybody is entitled to work and make a living "because parents won't be around forever".
Now the barbed-wire gates of the former military training facility in Bozhourishte are wide open for everybody after the local authority allowed For Kids - 2017 and volunteers to reclaim the abandoned land tract for plant growing.
There are 15 gardeners, but at least ten others - parents and volunteers - are there at any time to help them. The gardeners are aged between 24 and 35, and for most of them this is the first job they have landed despite - or on account of - their special needs. They clearly enjoy what they do: they welcome everybody with a broad smile and proudly show off their plants. They make sure to mention that no pesticides are used and say their favourite part is watering the plants and partying.
One of them, Viktoria, in her 20s, says they are grateful for the site and a chance to work, and are happy to be able to socialize more and be in touch with nature.
Next to the vegetable beds and the greenhouses is a trailer from which the garden sells fresh produce, dried herbs, chutney and jams made right there by the same people.
Occupational therapist Borislava Vaskova says the special-needs youths do so much more than gardening. They have built a tree house and are now helping put up a ramp for wheelchairs. They have also set up an art workshop and an open-air bar.
In the long term, the people involved in the project aim to enlist more people for their cause. They plan to renovate a building located on the property and turn it into a therapy centre. Before that happens, they are happy to welcome visitors and buyers of their produce. Also, they will appreciate donations of gardening tools.
The sheltered-employment garden is open from 9 a.m. on workdays. RI/LN
//
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